THE GNANA SARASWATHI TEMPLE

One of the rarest temples dedicated to the Goddess of Learning is located in Basar, in the Indian state of Telangana. Read on...

- SRIKANT K

Goddess Saraswathi is considered to be one of the main aspects of the divine feminine energy in Hindu religion, the others being Goddesses Lakshmi and Parvathi. Devi Saraswathi is the Goddess of purity, auspiciousness, divine knowledge, wisdom, speech, music and arts. She is considered as the Goddess of learning and worshipped by all Hindus.

The glory of Goddess Saraswathi has been described in the Rig Veda. She is known by many names like Brahmani (power of Lord Brahma), Veenapani (who carries a Veena in Her hands), Hansavahini (who sits on a Swan), Pustakdharini (Goddess who carries a book), Vidyadatri (the provider of knowledge) and Vagdevi (Goddess of speech). There are a very few temples in India dedicated to Goddess Saraswathi. The most prominent ones are the Gnana Saraswathi temple in Basar, Telangana, Sharadamba temple in Sringeri, Karnataka, Saraswathi temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan, Sri Sharada Devi temple in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh and the Panachikkadu temple in Kottayam, Kerala.